World Ocean Radio

A weekly series of five-minute audio essays on a wide range of ocean issues from science and education to advocacy and exemplary projects, brought to you by long-time host Peter Neill. Available for RSS feed, podcast, and syndicated use at no cost by community radio stations worldwide.

With this edition of World Ocean Radio we embark on an informal partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Ocean Portal to address ocean solutions and innovative projects in the context of the Global Earth Optimism Summit to be held Earth Day Weekend in April 2017. The Smithsonian will convene thought leaders, scientists, philanthropists, the media and more to discuss and share solutions. In this episode we introduce the ideas behind the Earth Optimism Summit and the subsequent series of...

After water, the largest volume of natural material used to support global growth is sand. Demand for sand has grown exponentially in the last two decades as Arab and Asian nations grapple with ways to expand land mass, economic zone, and geo-political standing. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines the impacts of sand extraction on the environment, the true measure of its cost, and the prospects for international protection and oversight.

In September the World Ocean Observatory was invited to attend the Our Ocean Conference hosted by the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. During the 2-day gathering more than 4 million square km (1.5 million sq. miles) of ocean were newly pledged to protection and sustainability, and more than 1 billion dollars were pledged to ocean protection, research, and the blue economy. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we offer a report of the various pledges, commitments, and advancements made...

World Ocean Radio is set to embark on a series highlighting optimistic projects, perspectives, and organizations helping to raise awareness at the individual, community, and national levels for the health and future of the earth and ocean. In this episode, host Peter Neill begins with some economic ideas as outlined by Gar Alperovitz of the Democracy Collaborative and the Next System Project.

Where does water come from? We know from science that water evaporates from the ocean reservoir, is captured in clouds, fog and rain, descends to seep into the underground aquifer or be distributed via lake and stream. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill reminds us that the ocean exists at both ends of the water cycle--at mountaintop and abyssal plain--and essential to the sustainable ocean is the protection and conservation of the vast, fluid passage upon which each of us on...

The world is connected, not divided, by the sea, through the circulation of protein, goods, people, and ideas. The ocean contains an enormous unexplored inventory of medicinal cures, unlimited energy, and desalinated drinking water. How do we build a new global constituency for the ocean? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will explore this idea and ask how we might connect and unite as citizens of the ocean worldwide, and to sustainably benefit from the ocean's bounty.

Fresh water troubles continue to make headlines everywhere. Issues large and small are adding up to a global water crisis which threatens all of us, rich and poor, no matter where we live in the world. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will argue that the time has come for us to rethink how we manage the efficiency of our water use at all levels of society--from individual to corporate accountability to government action, conservation, and regulation.

A rebroadcast of a popular episode from August 2015: Life in a Drop
About this episode:
What do we see in a single drop of ocean water? An image captured by David Liittschwager for National Geographic, then magnified 25 times, reveals an impressive abundance and biodiversity of many types of microscopic organisms. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill describes some of the creatures discovered therein, and discusses the larger systems at work in the vast cosmos of a single drop...

e·thos / ˈēTHäs
noun. the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.
The environmental and political turmoil we face in the world today is symptomatic of a failing system unable to support and sustain us. We are facing a bankrupt value system. The question is, “what’s next?” In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill tackles this head-on, arguing for a new paradigm for the 21st century, a “hydraulic society” enabled by a...

"Are we training our best new minds in the worst ways?" In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill asks this question and more of scientists and educators working for sustainability and environment, urging them to question conventional thinking and to provide students with the research skills, curiosity, and necessary knowledge to create new ways of thinking to bring us into a sustainable future.

Summertime again, and what better time to pack a few books and head to the beach? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill suggests some of his favorite books for ocean lovers. His list runs the gamut from complicated and comprehensive to entertaining and mystical. And he recommends a new book by Captain Peter Wilcox, an adventurous non-fiction book that has action and intrigue, and highlights public consciousness, public awareness and protest of ocean issues that Wilcox’s...

Product labeling is a thorough and complicated business, from nutrition facts and ingredients on food labels to non-GMOS, organics, recycling information and much more. But a key component is missing from all of this labeling and accountability: the calculation of water used to grow, mine, process, produce, package, transport, and dispose of the infinite things consumers consume. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill will ask if it would not be useful to know a rating of water...

The Polar Code is a new document of the International Maritime Organization to begin to frame the safe use of the Polar region by the inevitable increased shipping traffic to the Arctic. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill outlines the code and hails its thoroughness while questioning the preparedness of increased maritime traffic and the risks involved to this highly vulnerable natural ecosystem.

How important is access to clean water? Just ask the residents of Flint, Michigan. Or the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Or Syria, the West Bank, Brazil, or countless other countries and communities where people are struggling with supply, access, contamination, and uncertainty. ‪‎Water‬ is THE global issue of our time. In this one hour lecture broadcast by Alternative Radio, Peter Neill of the World Ocean Observatory and author of THE ONCE AND FUTURE OCEAN speaks about why the ‪‎ocean‬ matters...

In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill discusses a recent report entitled "The State of Sustainability Initiatives Review: Standards and the Blue Economy" and the state of global fisheries. The new IISD report provides research, analysis, and suggested standards that might serve as policy and guidelines to address both the crisis and viability of ocean resources.

World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill recently returned from the Arctic Circle Forum in Nuuk, Greenland, where he made some interesting observations about those in attendance and the shifting attitudes away from the business-as-usual interests in Arctic resources toward more assertive ideas by Greenlanders to create new opportunities using their resources and investing in the area's people within the context of historical values and cultural traditions.